This book of recipes was conceived by Patti Rbeiz, an American- Lebanese with a degree in International Business, an English teacher, and mother of two, and Béatrice Maubeuge, French, with a Master’s degree in Business and Economics, a professor of French as a foreign language, and mother of three.

Coming from different backgrounds but sharing the same daily chores, we thought it would be interesting to put our experiences and our knowledge together in the kitchen.
As expatriate wives having lived in many different countries over the years, ranging from the United States to Europe to the Middle East, we have collected unique and varied recipes. Some of these dishes are exotic, while others are deliciously simple and basic, yet all are suited to the tastes of children as well as adults.

Living as an expatriate, or simply being settled in one place, all mothers lead busy lives, taking care of children, husbands, household duties, and complicated daily schedules. With such heavy responsibilities, mothers need their lives to be simplified.

In publishing this work, our aim is to put a manual at the disposal of mothers to help them in their daily chores.

Actually, more and more mothers no longer have the time to cook at every meal (whether they work outside the home, or they have extracurricular activities). Some don’t have the inclination to prepare meals each day, or they simply cannot find the menu ideas to choose balanced and tasty foods that will please their dear children. Finally, some mothers just don’t have the know-how in culinary matters.
Despite these constraints, the mealtime should always be a moment of pleasure for children, of discovery, and sharing…

• How to spend the least time possible in the kitchen while still satisfying the children?
• What are we going to eat today?

These are the questions which we would like to answer in a simple, practical, and functional way.

The following recipes were chosen because they consist of a family’s essential daily nutritional needs. We wanted them to be simple and economical: We explain as clearly and exactly as possible with precise directions, indicating preparation time, cooking time, and necessary quantities.

Certain readers may be surprised not to find all the recipes that they want in the following pages. The omissions that they will notice were voluntary. Our aim was not to add a new kitchen encyclopedia to the numerous collections of this kind that already exist, but to accurately provide frequently used recipes.

In this book, we also suggest nutritional advice for children and adults including menu suggestions, whose nutritional values have been validated by Anne Jacques, a French nutritionist and mother of four.

This book is bilingual English/French and it allows us to satisfy the curiosity of our interested readers by seeing the corresponding vocabulary between the two languages.
Each prepared recipe serves 4 to 6 people.

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